Police responded “as if [it was] terrorist related” but just after 10pm revealed the incident at Oxford Circus Tube station that sparked the chaos was merely caused by an “altercation” between two men.

And in the 90 or so minutes that the security alert lasted on Black Friday night - one of the year’s busiest shopping days - the 16 people that were treated for minor injuries were actually hurt trying to leave the area.

Daily Mail one of the UK’s biggest newspaper tweeted about a lorry ploughing into people at Oxford Circus, then deleted it when it turns out to be fake news. Well that’s one way to spread a rumor. pic.twitter.com/nULu0G4lbe

... and a pop star to report a blow-by-blow account that aptly demonstrated both the perils of social media in a crisis, yet also the genuine and understandable terror felt by thousands caught up in the rush hour scare.

She told HuffPost UK: “I was walking towards Oxford Street Station and Carnaby Street was just completely empty and everyone was hiding in the stores, no one knew what was going on.

“And then all of a sudden we just saw a flood of people just running. So I quickly just ran into the closest Pret and to begin with everyone was calm but we suddenly just saw more people running down from Carnaby Street.”

Peter Nicholls / Reuters
A woman stumbles as people run down Oxford Street on Friday night.

THE POLICE RESPONSE

The Met Police and the British Transport Police responded “as if [it was] terrorist related” meaning armed officers and cordons were swiftly in place.

HuffPost reporter Owen Bennett, who was at Bond St, said he saw armed police cars driving down the road towards a cordon.

“After a few minutes where it seemed like nothing was happening there were screams and everyone started running and people then ran into buildings.”

Our officers are on the scene at #OxfordCircus tube station with @BTP Please avoid the Oxford Circus area whilst we deal with the incident. More info asap

FAKE NEWS SPREADS

Perhaps the most grievous social media error was made by the Mail Online, which reported a lorry had ploughed into pedestrians.

The article quoted a tweet which said as much, however...

#oxfordstreet There is a lorry stopped on the pavement in Oxford street, police all around it and blood on the floor, it's definitely the aftermath of something maybe just a crash but nothing on the news... Anyone have a clue?

Daily Mail tweeting about lorry ploughing into people at Oxford Circus, then delete it when it turns out to be unfounded. Talk about unhelpfully spreading rumours... and this from one of our biggest newspapers!

Also adding to the confusion were the usual suspects, jumping to conclusions about the perpetrators of an attack that may or may not have even happened at this point.

Twitter
These tweets from Tommy Robinson were later deleted.

A writer for notorious conspiracy website Infowars gave a running commentary on “out of control” London and then, without any hint of irony, had a go at the Mail Online for reporting “before any facts are known”.

On the ground, those caught up in the panic had little idea what was going on and reporters talking to them by phone found themselves in the odd situation of updating them on the situation.

Dotti Irving, who was shopping in Fenwicks on Bond Street at the time, told HuffPost UK: “The doorman instantly shut the door and I thought ’if there’s a bomb or someone coming down Bond Street, I don’t want to be in Fenwicks. So I went out of the side door and just rushed down Bond Street and every so often there would be a raft of 200-300 people rushing down the street shrinking and screaming and falling over, pushing each over. That was the horrible bit.

“I called my daughter and she said ‘get into a building’, so I went into Browns in Maddox Street where they were taking everybody in, everyone was really super. We were really looked after. They didn’t want us to leave until we got the all-clear. It was absolutely coming together, it’s the old Blitz thing isn’t it? People talk to each other when they usually simply don’t in London.

“I saw a lot of people being knocked over by other people, a woman with a horrible gash on her head, somebody else was trampled but her boyfriend picked her up.

“Just sheer panic.”

At 5:42pm, little under an hour after the incident began, police revealed they had not found any evidence of gunshots.

We have not located any trace of suspects, evidence of shots fired or casualties. Officers still on scene. If you are in a building stay there, if you are on the street in #OxfordStreet leave the area. Officers continue to search the area. More updates as soon as we have them

It was also confirmed the only reported injuries during the event were caused by the panic itself and not any incident the police were responding to.

Nine people were taken to hospital, another seven were treated at the scene.

Following the Oxford Circus incident earlier we treated several patients who sustained injuries whilst leaving the area and discharged 7 patients at the scene and took 9 patients to hospital. pic.twitter.com/Kyap01p4Gu

It's disgusting the amount of abuse Olly Murs is receiving, many people, including my brother, also heard what sounded something very similar to gunfire at Oxford Circus. The hysteria was caused prior his tweet, he simply said what he was witnessing like others

Not being funny but if you were in a crowded shop and you heard what sounded like gunshots you would panic too and posting tweets on Twitter may help people avoid the area so how about we all say well done to Olly Murs for taking the time to warn people of a potential incident👏

Listen piers! I was shopping and then all of sudden the whole place went mad, I mean crazy people running & screaming towards exits. We found a small office to hide to which loads of staff and people were saying there was shots fired. If you was there you’d have understood mate. https://t.co/mnZBTSLod4

No. You listen, Olly. When you have millions of followers be very careful what you tweet. There were no shots, in fact nothing happened at all. So you stirred extra needless panic by tweeting false information. https://t.co/6L3xTBlwuA

No you listen Piers.. your comments are unfair mate. It’s Easy to say now it was nothing but in a state of shock and panic I was trying to make people aware of what was happening. Which I was lend to believe by staff and customers that someone was shooting. https://t.co/qFJRfOpqJk